"The title has been decided. After you finish the palace examination, regardless of whether you are the top scorer or not, you will be directly awarded the title of the second-rank Duke. The corresponding rewards of the Duke, such as good fields, mansions, courtyards, gold, silver, jewelry, jade, etc., will all be upgraded by half a grade. The title of the Duke is 'An'. Before long, we will have to call you Duke An."
Fang Yun pondered the title of 'An' carefully, and then asked, "It should be a lifetime title, right?"
"Yes. You have become a duke of a different surname just by passing the imperial examination. Even if it is a lifetime title, it is unprecedented. With your ability, you may go one step further and become a hereditary duke in three to five years at most. In this way, your descendants will also have titles, but the titles will be lower from generation to generation. Generally, great scholars only have hereditary titles. As for the hereditary title, as long as Jingguo exists, your descendants can be granted the title of Anguo Duke from generation to generation, but there are very few hereditary titles in the Ten Kingdoms."
"The debate in the court was fierce, wasn't it?"
"It is fierce, but not as fierce as before. The people from the left prime minister and the Kang Wang faction are not as opposed as before. We, the 'royalists', are fully prepared, and even a little disappointed. It's just that those people in the Ministry of Rites are too meticulous, and many things need to be discussed, so it takes a lot of time. By the way, the Minister of Literature said that he has reported your case to the Holy Academy, and soon the Holy Academy will send a historian disciple to write your life. When you become a great scholar or disappear, it will be officially recorded in the history books. If the "Records of the Ten Kingdoms" is published in the future, you will definitely be listed in the "Book of Scenery". Even now, you are qualified to be included in the "Biographies". But we believe that after some time, you will definitely enter a higher "family". Of course, we hope that you can go one step further and be listed in the Annals!"
"We'll talk about the future later. Are we only discussing titles today?"
After a long while, Minister Sai continued to deliver the letter.
"We originally wanted to discuss your promotion based on your literary merits, but we found that if you don't make any mistakes and your literary merits are not reduced, once the palace examination is over, you will be promoted several levels and directly become a real third-rank official. This is not a rank of nobility, but an official rank! Haha, the left prime minister shot himself in the foot. If he hadn't proposed to convert military merits into your literary merits, you wouldn't have so many literary merits. You wait at home, and the briefing of this court meeting will be delivered to your door in an hour at most."
"Okay, thank you, Minister Sai."
Fang Yun continued to read. After a while, Fang Daniu knocked on the door and came in with a strange look on his face. He said, "Master, the man from the Meng family is here! He said something like an old friend wants to see him. I recognized him at a glance. He is the brother of the evil king!"
Fang Yun's eyes flashed, and he said, "Meng Linyu? Bring him in." After saying that, he leaned back in his chair.
Seeing that Fang Yun did not go to greet the scholar from the Semi-Saint family, Fang Daniu did not dare to say anything and left immediately.
Not long after, Fang Daniu led Meng Linyu into the study and said, "Master, Meng Linyu is here. I will take my leave first." Then he walked back and closed the door.
Fang Yun sat calmly on the chair, holding a copy of Zixia Yi Zhuan in his hand and reading it silently.
Meng Linyu's face was livid. Not to mention meeting a mere scholar, even if he was visiting a university scholar, the other party would stand in the house to receive him even if he didn't go out to greet him.
But now Fang Yun actually turned a blind eye to it, and any scholar from a semi-saint family would not be able to tolerate such a great humiliation.
"Fang Yun, you are too arrogant. Aren't you afraid that I will sue you for disrespect?" Meng Linyu said while suppressing his anger.
Fang Yun put down the book and smiled, "Courtesy is not as good as the enemy. You don't understand such a simple truth? By the way, how is Lord Xiongjun? When I just left the Holy Ruins, I learned that Lord Xiongjun was injured in the Prison Sea. Has he recovered now?"
Meng Linyu gnashed his teeth and looked at Fang Yun. After a long while, he said, "Fang Yun, my Meng family is willing to exchange the Wuhou Chariot for your Denglong Stone! My brother... He was seriously injured this time and his position as a scholar may be lost. Only the Dragon Clan's sacred item, the Dragon Tooth Mushroom, can save him. We have contacted the Dragon Clan, but they refused to exchange, even for the Wuhou Chariot, because they have listed my Meng family as an unwelcome family and have banned any family from trading Dragon Tooth Mushrooms with my family. We found the Lei family, which has the best relationship with the Dragon Clan, but the head of the Lei family decisively refused!"
"The dragon clan has good vision!" Fang Yun nodded.
"You... There are only three places where Dragon Tooth Mushrooms are produced. My Meng family cannot afford to go to the other two. Denglongtai is our only hope."
"So this is ah."
Fang Yun lowered his head slightly, as if he was lost in thought, but in fact he sneered in his heart.
After entering the Holy Ruins, the connection between the evil king's clone and the original body was completely cut off, so the evil king still does not know what happened in the Holy Ruins, and he does not know that his "Dragon Breath Stone Carving" has fallen into Fang Yun's hands.
If there was no Dragon's Breath Stone Carving, Fang Yun would not have thought too much about it, but with the Dragon's Breath Stone Carving, Fang Yun was sure that the Meng family wanted to enter the Dragon Terrace this time not just for the legendary Dragon's Tooth Mushroom, there must be other divine objects, perhaps the second part of the legacy left by Meng Sheng before his death.
Although Meng Sheng's foundation in the way of sainthood is unstable, he is still a half-saint after all. It is very likely that he has left a way out for the Meng family. That way out may be in Denglongtai. It may not necessarily ensure that the Meng family will rise again, but at least it can prevent the Meng family from declining too much.
"Fang Yun, I hope you think about it carefully. That is the great scholar's treasure, the Wuhou Chariot! Although your current rank is too low and you can only use part of its power, as long as the Grand Secretary doesn't fight you to death, the Wuhou Chariot can protect you!"
Fang Yun said: "I heard that there is actually a page of holy text written by the Holy Saint Meng on the Wuhou Car. If you give me the holy text as well, I will exchange it for the Lei family's Dragon Ascension Stone."
"Impossible! The sacred text was written by Meng Zu himself, and it cannot be exchanged for a mere Dragon Ascension Stone! We are exchanging the Dragon Ascension Stone with you just for the true dragon aura on it. You have to think clearly. With the power of my Meng family, it is enough to exchange for an ordinary Dragon Ascension Stone!"
Fang Yun said: "Then you can exchange it for ordinary Dragon Ascension Stones. I will keep this Dragon Ascension Stone for myself."
"Fang Yun, this is not your attitude for negotiation!" Meng Linyu gnashed his teeth in hatred.
Fang Yun smiled and said, "What do you think is the use of a great scholar's treasure to me? There are too many people who want to exchange it with me for the Lei family's Denglong Stone. I will clearly mark the price tomorrow! Exchange it with a complete set of great scholar's authentic texts or a page of holy texts!"
"You are asking for too much! The noble families who are willing to exchange the True Text and the Holy Text will definitely get the Dragon Stone and will not exchange with you at all!"
"If you don't want to change, then don't change. I also want to go in and try my luck."
Meng Linyu said gloomily, "I'm kindly advising you that the Lei family is not easy to mess with! Elsewhere, our Meng family is not afraid of the Lei family at all, but if it is on Denglongtai, even the people of the sub-sage family are afraid of the Lei family! Do you know what Denglongtai is called? The back garden of the Lei family! You don't know how many divine objects the Lei family gets with the special Denglong Stone every time Denglongtai is opened, and how many of them are given to the Dragon Palace to be appreciated and get more divine objects. I can guarantee that with your relationship with the Lei family, once you enter Denglongtai, the Lei family has a thousand ways to kill you!"
Fang Yun remained calm.
"You don't have to pretend there. The news of you insulting Lei Jiu in the restaurant has spread all over the world. Lei Jiu is so talented that he will definitely become one of the Eight Talents of the Imperial Academy, second only to the Four Great Talents. If you meet Lei Jiu in Denglongtai, you will definitely die. What's more, you have angered many elders of the Lei family! Ji Zhibai's withdrawal from the Ten Nations Competition was their means. If you don't know how to advance or retreat, Denglongtai will become your tomb!"
Fang Yun reached out and touched his ear, saying, "This sounds familiar. Your Meng family also said this before I entered the Holy Ruins."
Meng Linyu was extremely ashamed and said, "In addition to the Wuhou Chariot, our Meng family can exchange it for a piece of Heavenly Leaf! You should have heard of the Heavenly Tree. It is very strange and every genius has entered it. Some people even got a broken Wenxin in the Heavenly Tree! As for the various rare treasures, they are countless."
"Do you think I can't even get Tianye now?" Fang Yun looked at Meng Linyu.
Meng Linyu's words were suppressed by Fang Yun's words.
"Tell me what you want, as long as our Meng family can satisfy it!" Meng Linyu said.
"I have just stated my request." Fang Yun said calmly, straightening his body slightly. He was no longer as patient as before, and seemed to have the intention of leaving.
Meng Linyu was angered by Fang Yun's attitude and said, "Fang Yun, you really don't know how to live or die! I'll give you one last chance to save yourself. Sell the Denglong Stone to the Meng family!"
"Go away. Don't force me to find someone to beat you out with a stick." Fang Yun stood up. There was no need to be polite to the mortal enemies like Xiong Jun and the Meng family.
Meng Linyu wanted to start scolding, but when he thought that this was the Jingguo Academy, his aura involuntarily shrank by three points. Once Fang Yun was slightly damaged, the students of the academy would dare to kick him out without the need for the Minister of Literature or the President of the Academy, and would not care whether he was the child of a semi-saint family or not.
What's more, the evil saint had led his troops to kill people from Jing many times in the past, and the scholars of Jing did not mind venting their feud on him.
Meng Linyu stood up, his eyes gleaming with ferocity, and said, "Since you are so stubborn, don't blame us! We, the Meng family, have already guessed that the reason why brother's spirit disappeared was because of you, even if you didn't kill it yourself! The Meng family holds grudges more than any other family!"
"If you, the Meng family, are stubborn and use the strength you used to rise on me, then be prepared for complete decline! I, Fang Yun, was not afraid of the past, and I will be fearless in the future too! Get out!" Fang Yun said and pointed to the door.
"You will pay for your stupidity today!" Meng Linyu turned around angrily, slammed the door and left.
Fang Yun sat back in his chair, took out a small fine green-handled brush, dipped it in ink, wrote the words "Meng Family" and "Lei Family" on the paper, and finally drew two heavy lines between the two families.
"I prefer moving forward to moving backward!"
Not long after, the imperial runners came and delivered a brief report on the court meeting. Fang Yun read it carefully and found that it was nothing more than some rewards from the Duke. He thought those officials were really boring. It was right for him, a cabinet official, not to attend the court meeting. It was a waste of time.
After reading the morning meeting briefing, Fang Yun continued to study until late at night, preparing to enter the Heavenly Tree. (To be continued...)